On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction
This is a thesis about word definition. Early developmental studies of word definition, tested nous rather than other morphological categories (adjectives, verbs). As some authors have pointed out (McKeown, 1991) a proper definition includes a superordinate term that denominates the category to whic...
| Autor: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2016 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | CBUC, CESCA |
| Repositorio: | TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/400881 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10803/400881 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Llenguatge infantil Lenguaje infantil Language in children Sintaxi Sintaxis Syntax Semàntica Semántica Semantics Lingüística aplicada Applied linguistics Ciències Humanes i Socials 81 |
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On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction |
| title |
On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction |
| spellingShingle |
On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction Albert Gandía, Milagros Llenguatge infantil Lenguaje infantil Language in children Sintaxi Sintaxis Syntax Semàntica Semántica Semantics Lingüística aplicada Applied linguistics Ciències Humanes i Socials 81 |
| title_short |
On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction |
| title_full |
On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction |
| title_fullStr |
On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction |
| title_full_unstemmed |
On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction |
| title_sort |
On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of Abstraction |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Albert Gandía, Milagros |
| author |
Albert Gandía, Milagros |
| author_facet |
Albert Gandía, Milagros |
| author_role |
author |
| dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Tolchinsky, Liliana Taulé Delor, Mariona Universitat de Barcelona. Departament de Lingüística General |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Llenguatge infantil Lenguaje infantil Language in children Sintaxi Sintaxis Syntax Semàntica Semántica Semantics Lingüística aplicada Applied linguistics Ciències Humanes i Socials 81 |
| topic |
Llenguatge infantil Lenguaje infantil Language in children Sintaxi Sintaxis Syntax Semàntica Semántica Semantics Lingüística aplicada Applied linguistics Ciències Humanes i Socials 81 |
| description |
This is a thesis about word definition. Early developmental studies of word definition, tested nous rather than other morphological categories (adjectives, verbs). As some authors have pointed out (McKeown, 1991) a proper definition includes a superordinate term that denominates the category to which the word to be defined belongs, followed by definitional features of the word. This description has been frequently translated into the formula ‘X is a Y that Z’ (Nippold, 1995; Watson, 1995) which has lead developmental researchers to consider that a definition that includes a relative clause to express the differentiae (key features of the genus) as a paradigmatic example of formal definition. Developmental research present two limitations: the first one is that the effect of level of abstraction of the definiendum on the quality of word definition has been limited to nouns. The second one is that these developmental studies have been carried out, as a rule, in other languages than Spanish, mostly in English. The current thesis is aimed at overcoming these two limitations. The general purpose of this thesis is to capture whether and how the syntactic and semantic features of verbal utterances produced by Spanish speakers for defining words vary as a function of morphological category and level of abstraction of the words. To address this general purpose, we undertake three studies. Study 1 portrays the initial state of definition as a metalinguistic activity in a group of 7-year-old children, an age considered as a milestone in the development of word definition. In study 2 we examine the same dimensions in the same task in a group of adults, and study 3 draws a comparison between children and adults’ definitional abilities. Participants in both studies were asked to define 20 concrete and abstract nouns, 5 concrete and abstract adjectives, and 7 concrete and abstract verbs. Word definitions were analysed for grammatical form and use of semantic components (i.e. categorical term, specificity of the hyperonym, and semantic content of the definiens). Findings for Study 1 indicated a generalized effect of the morphological category of the definiendum on the syntactic and semantic dimensions of the definition. Level of abstraction only explained significantly the differences in the components of the semantic dimension. The results offered in this study revealed that the characteristics of the students are more important than the characteristics of the words to explain the differences in the performance in the syntactic complexity of the definiens’ structure and in the categorical term of the definiens. However, the characteristics of the words were found to be more important to explain the differences in the specificity of the hyperonym and in the semantic content of the definiens. Findings for Study 2 showed a generalized effect of the morphological category of the definiendum on the syntactic and the semantic dimension of the definition, except for the semantic content of the definiens. Level of abstraction only explained significantly the differences in the components of the semantic dimension. And the characteristics of the participants were found to be more relevant than the characteristics of the words in order to explain the differences in word definition performance of adults. Findings for Study 3 revealed a generalized effect of age on the syntactic and semantic dimensions of word definition. Significant interactions were also found between age and morphological category for the syntactic dimension of the definition; and between age and morphological category, and age and level of abstraction of the definiendum for the semantic dimension of the definition. The differences observed between the definitional abilities of children and adults suggest (e.g., Snow, 1990) that the definition is a genre that needs time, practice and exposure in order to develop. |
| publishDate |
2016 |
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2016 2017 2017 |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
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doctoralThesis |
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publishedVersion |
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http://hdl.handle.net/10803/400881 |
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http://hdl.handle.net/10803/400881 |
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Inglés |
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Inglés |
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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openAccess |
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300 p. application/pdf application/pdf |
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Universitat de Barcelona |
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Universitat de Barcelona |
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TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa) reponame:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red instname:CBUC, CESCA |
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CBUC, CESCA |
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TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
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TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
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1869418156812926976 |
| spelling |
On Word Definition in Children and Adults: Effects of Word Category and Level of AbstractionAlbert Gandía, MilagrosLlenguatge infantilLenguaje infantilLanguage in childrenSintaxiSintaxisSyntaxSemànticaSemánticaSemanticsLingüística aplicadaApplied linguisticsCiències Humanes i Socials81This is a thesis about word definition. Early developmental studies of word definition, tested nous rather than other morphological categories (adjectives, verbs). As some authors have pointed out (McKeown, 1991) a proper definition includes a superordinate term that denominates the category to which the word to be defined belongs, followed by definitional features of the word. This description has been frequently translated into the formula ‘X is a Y that Z’ (Nippold, 1995; Watson, 1995) which has lead developmental researchers to consider that a definition that includes a relative clause to express the differentiae (key features of the genus) as a paradigmatic example of formal definition. Developmental research present two limitations: the first one is that the effect of level of abstraction of the definiendum on the quality of word definition has been limited to nouns. The second one is that these developmental studies have been carried out, as a rule, in other languages than Spanish, mostly in English. The current thesis is aimed at overcoming these two limitations. The general purpose of this thesis is to capture whether and how the syntactic and semantic features of verbal utterances produced by Spanish speakers for defining words vary as a function of morphological category and level of abstraction of the words. To address this general purpose, we undertake three studies. Study 1 portrays the initial state of definition as a metalinguistic activity in a group of 7-year-old children, an age considered as a milestone in the development of word definition. In study 2 we examine the same dimensions in the same task in a group of adults, and study 3 draws a comparison between children and adults’ definitional abilities. Participants in both studies were asked to define 20 concrete and abstract nouns, 5 concrete and abstract adjectives, and 7 concrete and abstract verbs. Word definitions were analysed for grammatical form and use of semantic components (i.e. categorical term, specificity of the hyperonym, and semantic content of the definiens). Findings for Study 1 indicated a generalized effect of the morphological category of the definiendum on the syntactic and semantic dimensions of the definition. Level of abstraction only explained significantly the differences in the components of the semantic dimension. The results offered in this study revealed that the characteristics of the students are more important than the characteristics of the words to explain the differences in the performance in the syntactic complexity of the definiens’ structure and in the categorical term of the definiens. However, the characteristics of the words were found to be more important to explain the differences in the specificity of the hyperonym and in the semantic content of the definiens. Findings for Study 2 showed a generalized effect of the morphological category of the definiendum on the syntactic and the semantic dimension of the definition, except for the semantic content of the definiens. Level of abstraction only explained significantly the differences in the components of the semantic dimension. And the characteristics of the participants were found to be more relevant than the characteristics of the words in order to explain the differences in word definition performance of adults. Findings for Study 3 revealed a generalized effect of age on the syntactic and semantic dimensions of word definition. Significant interactions were also found between age and morphological category for the syntactic dimension of the definition; and between age and morphological category, and age and level of abstraction of the definiendum for the semantic dimension of the definition. The differences observed between the definitional abilities of children and adults suggest (e.g., Snow, 1990) that the definition is a genre that needs time, practice and exposure in order to develop.Esta es una tesis sobre definición de palabras. Estudios de desarrollo iniciales de la definición de palabras investigaron la categoría morfológica nombre. Algunos autores han señalado que una definición que incluye una cláusula de relativo para expresar la differentiae (rasgos definitorios del genus) equivaldría al ejemplo paradigmático de definición formal. Los estudios sobre el desarrollo de la definición presentan dos limitaciones: la primera es que el estudio del efecto del nivel de abstracción del definiendum se ha limitado a los nombres; y la segunda es que estos estudios se han llevado a cabo, como norma general, en Inglés. Esta tesis pretende abordar estas dos limitaciones. El objetivo general de esta tesis es capturar si y como los componentes sintácticos y semánticos de las definiciones de palabras producidas por hablantes españoles varían en función de la categoría morfológica y del nivel de abstracción de las palabras. Para acometer este objetivo, llevamos a cabo tres estudios. El primero explora el estado inicial de la definición como actividad metalingüística en un grupo de niños de 7 años. El estudio 2 examina las mismas dimensiones en la misma tarea en un grupo de adultos; y el estudio 3 realiza una comparación entre las habilidades definicionales de los niños y los adultos. Los participantes definieron 20 nombres concretos y abstractos, 5 adjetivos concretos y abstractos, y 7 verbos concretos y abstractos. Las definiciones se analizaron de acuerdo a la estructura sintáctica y a los componentes semánticos que la forman. Los resultados del estudio 1 y 2 indican un efecto de la categoría morfológica en las dimensiones sintácticas y semánticas de la definición. El nivel de abstracción explica las diferencias en los componentes semánticos de la definición. Además, encontramos que, en el caso de los niños, las características de los estudiantes son más importantes que las de las palabras para explicar la diferencias en el desempeño en la complejidad sintáctica y en el término categorial; mientras que las características de las palabras resultan más importantes para explicar las diferencias en la especificidad del hiperónimo y en el contenido semántico. Sin embargo, las características de los participantes son más relevantes que las características de las palabras para explicar las diferencias en la definición de palabras de los adultos. Finalmente, las diferencias observadas entre las habilidades definicionales de los niños y de los adultos sugieren que la definición es un género que, como tal, requiere de tiempo, práctica y exposición para poder desarrollarse con éxito.Universitat de BarcelonaTolchinsky, LilianaTaulé Delor, MarionaUniversitat de Barcelona. Departament de Lingüística General201720172016info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion300 p.application/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10803/400881TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa)reponame:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Redinstname:CBUC, CESCAInglésL'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:www.tdx.cat:10803/4008812026-06-14T12:46:07Z |
| score |
15.301603 |